January is the start of the new year. It's the time we begin to realize that we probably won't keep true to our new year's resolutions although this year and already over 3 weeks into 2011, I have religiously kept my 2 vows: the first was to enroll and actually go to a water aerobics class 3x weekly which I do every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So far, so good and I slowly can feel and see the difference which encourages me to continue as well as the fact, which for me is AS important, that the class and pool are 2 minutes from my home on foot just around the corner so no bus, metro or tram needed; the second promise was to start this blog and continue with it. You all are witness to this as I put much effort and thought into every article, whether you agree with me or not!
In the northern hemisphere, January is cold, days are short and nights are long and many count the hours of darkness until the sun will shine again brightly. But here in the southern hemisphere, and especially in Argentina, it's the time for balmy evenings outdoors, lazy afternoons lying in a park to perfect that tan which doesn't require solariums or sprays and a generally more relaxed period of the year. There's also less traffic and people on the streets because it is also the time of year for those long-deisred and well-deserved summer vacations.And many friends, family, neighbors and fellow citizens are somewhere on the Atlantic coast or elsewhere in this large world. For those who really want to see or be seen, there's always Punta del Este in Uruguay. A small, exclusive refuge for the "beautiful" people or those who have the money to convince the others that they are indeed beautiful. In this friendly neighboring country to Argentina whose average annual income( and this average is of course open to many interpretations but on a whole, I'd say not far from the truth) is approximately $4500 USD, a night in one of the good hotels starts at $500 USD ( breakfast included). A bottle of water on beach goes from its normal $1 USD to $4 USD, a Wiener Schntizel sandwich at $ 15USD, etc. I think you get the picture. Rentals for upper- end properties can oscillate from $ 40000 USD (forty thousand) for a 4 bedroom house near the beach to $ 20000 USD (twenty thousand) for a 3 bedroom apartment......for 15 days, not a month, in January.
But January is also the time for bank robberies. Bank robberies, be they violent or not, occur in almost every country in the world at one time or another. North Korea might be an exception to both banks and robberies as there are supposedly now 15 banks in the entire country with a population of 23 million people; most of these banks, I would imagine, have empty coffres and are totally off limits to the North Korean citizen. I never saw a bank in North Korea on my recent 10 day trip there! Nor did I really need one as there is no need to have local currency as there is nothing to buy with it. How one longs for those days of shopping in the Soviet Union or even Cuba today!
But January in Argentina should be declared " mes de los robos bancarios" or "bank robbery month".
In January of 2006, we had the heist of the century for the upteenth time invloving 4 men and 1 woman dressed in everything from hoods over their heads to a normal grey suit, one dressed as a medical doctor on his hospital break and a blond wigged woman called Susana. The 23 hostages in the bank were eventually freed and the thieves got away with over 8 million USD via underground water passage ways leading to the River Plate on rubber, inflatable boats. Another big robbery was in January, 1997 with over $ 15 million dollars stolen and never recovered. And the saga continues.....
This year, rather in December 2010 over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the following Monday morning, they got a head start when 143 safety deposit boxes were broken into thanks to an elaborate and well -planned and executed master mind plan which involved over 6 months of calculations and hard labor as the thieves physically dug underground tunnels over 30 meters long (90 feet) complete with a lighting and ventilation system, probably better than the ones we have in our subways here.
The actual new year started with many more robberies; in fact , on one given day at the begining of the month, there were 4 major heists in one day in the country. And just the other day, on Tuesday , January 18th, another succesful robbery took place in a major downtown bank in late afternoon getting away with over 3 million pesos ( $750,000 USD). The culprits, to draw attention away from the bank they intended to rob, had police running between a car set on fire on an adjacent main street, a bomb they planted which blew up an ATM in another bank, a bomb scare threat called into a shop in the general area as well as by putting up signs on the windows of the bank where the actually robbery was taking place which said the bank's ATMs were out of service, thus, no one came in. and they worked without stress and not keeping too much of an eye out for the cops.
And the month isn't over yet!
So.....................
What is one to do? You can't put money into safety deposit boxes because they are broken into. After the last bank crisis in 2001-2002, you can trust the bank to deposit money because it was frozen and totally unavailable to its holders for lengthy periods. If you had a USD dollar account, a major trend to ward off inflation and devaluation of one's savings, it was converted in local pesos at a less than favorable rate of exchange because they bank did not have the actual greenbacks to replenish the affected accounts although at the same bank a few counters away, USD were being sold at the new rate of exchange. Hard to believe but true! But how many apartments, cars, refrigerators, tvs and other such "hard" goods does one have room for? Sure, an overseas bank account of which there are many with Argentine owners is a possibility but not a solution for the non Punta del Este jet set." So SES, what can I do? " you ask me.
Spend $1000 USD on a break- in -proof safety door which isn't fool proof AT ALL and then all the employees knew where there are valuables or money, leave some cash in various visible places throughout your home or flat so that the burgler will be tempted and possibly satisfied with that and buy the biggest king size mattress your small bedroom will take even though you'll have no room for a night stand, tv or shoe rack. Then find and have a blind seamstress take out some foam and sew in a large soft waterproof bag to store your valaubles and cash in the area where you least sleep so it wont bother you during your dreams of those antiquated days of knowing the bank manager, passbooks and that even if you hid your money, those 100 pesos wouldn't be eaten up by inflation in the next week, month or year.
See, every dark cloud does have its silver lining! And poverty may have its benefits.
SES
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